Nationality: United StatesExecutive summary: Heir to the Getty Oil fortune

Favorite of his father after the death of his half-brother, he became head of Getty Oil, selling it to Texaco in the 1980's for $10.1 billion. San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom's father William Newsom is a longtime friend (they met in high school) who administers the Gordon P. Getty Family Trust. The only Getty family member on the board of the Getty Museum.

Net worth $2.1B (Forbes). In 1999, his three illegitimate children by Cynthia Beck lobbied him to be included in the Getty inheritance.

After his business interests, Getty's main pursuit is composing classical music and operas, such as the rarely-performed Plump Jack. Getty also fancies himself an economist: one of his theories is "fertile money", where he would have solved Russia's post-breakup inflation by replacing its currency with mutual funds.